The Atlanta Dream’s momentum in the WNBA Finals stalled in Game 4’s first quarter, contributing to a 67-62 loss to the Golden State Valkyries on Saturday at State Farm Arena.

The best-of-seven series is tied at 2. Game 5 will be in San Francisco on Monday, and Game 6 is scheduled to be in Atlanta on Thursday.

The Dream, which posted blowouts in Games 2 and 3, couldn’t overcome its poor shooting in the first half in front of a sold-out crowd. The team finished hitting 33.3% of its shot attempts, including 17.4% of its 23 3-pointers. It hit just 71% of its 31 free throws. It committed a playoff-high 17 turnovers.

“We just need to take care of the ball better, get some better shots early,” Atlanta Head Coach Karl Smesko said. “We got good shots early, they didn't fall. We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole. I'm really happy with the fight we showed in the second half, but we can't put ourselves in that position; we're playing a great defensive team.”

Rhyne Howard led Atlanta with 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Angel Reese’s streak of three consecutive double-doubles stopped with 8 points on 2-of-12 shooting, and nine rebounds. Izzy Borlase came off the bench and scored 10 points.

“I think I rushed a lot of my shots,” Reese said. “It happens. I’m looking forward to the next game.”

Golden State Head Coach Natalie Nakase said the team settled into its defense against Reese better than in its previous games.

The Dream trailed 16-11 at the end of the first quarter. Allisha Gray picked up three fouls before the game was four minutes old. Uncharacteristically, the team committed seven turnovers. It committed eight during all four quarters of Wednesday’s win. Smesko said the foul trouble was a factor in the result.

“Defense,” Golden State’s Gabby Williams said. “Sorry to be redundant. We just picked up our ball pressure. We felt more connected today.”

Atlanta’s deficit grew to 42-26 at halftime. Golden State flipped the script that worked well for the Dream in Games 2 and 3. The Valkyries forced seven turnovers that they turned into seven points.

“We were really aggressive in terms of our coverage,” Nakase said. “More importantly, we moved the ball.”

Atlanta quickly cut Golden State’s lead to 44-35 on a three-point play from Howard. A Borlase 3-pointer continued Atlanta’s run, cutting the deficit to 46-40 with 4:26 left.

The plays got the crowd back into the game.

The Dream’s good work reduced Golden State’s lead to 54-45 heading into the fourth quarter.

Gray was called for her fifth personal foul with 8:09 remaining, leaving the Dream trailing 57-46 with 8:08 remaining.

Atlanta couldn’t make a run to cut into Golden State’s lead. Each time momentum started to be built, either Williams or former Atlanta player Tiffany Hayes scored.

“Her being able to come alive in that fourth quarter really filled the game for us,” Williams said of Hayes, who scored seven points in the fourth. She finished with 13.

Howard completed a three-point play to cut Golden State’s lead to 66-62 with 28.7 seconds remaining.

The Dream started to foul. It worked. Veronica Burton made the first free throw but missed the second. The Dream trailed 67-62 with 27.3 seconds remaining.

Atlanta elected to go for 3 but missed two attempts, ending the game.

“We’ll all be motivated to come back and have the best game of the series,” Smesko said.